1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to the field of timepieces and, more particularly, to the field of watches and, still more particularly, to the field of wristwatches and wristwatch cases.
2. Background Discussion
In order to better understand and appreciate the present invention relating to modern wristwatches and cases therefor, a brief horological perspective is considered desirable and is presented hereinbelow.
Devices for displaying the current time and measuring the passage of time have been known for hundreds if not thousands of years. Before mechanical clocks were invented, such time keeping devices as sun dials, hour glasses and water clocks had been in use for centuries. Early mechanical clocks were costly and village clock towers-often church steeples--which had clock faces that could bee seen from long distances and which tolled at least the hours were common and can still be seen in many towns and cities throughout the world. Perhaps the most famous clock tower in the world is the tower housing Big Ben in London, England.
As rural farming villages gave way to towns and cities, and as commerce became more important and widespread, and the income level increased, more and more families acquired their own timepieces. Thus, for example, wall and mantle clocks became a fixture in many well to do homes.
Major advances in exploration and particularly ocean navigation in the 1400's can be attributed to the invention of the chronograph which enabled sailing distances to be determined with accuracy. This enabled accurate mapping of the oceans, islands and continents.
A growing need soon arose for portable time pieces that could be carried by individuals. Perhaps the earliest type of portable timepiece was a pocket sundial, modern replicas of which are available as curiosities. Such portable sun dials had the distinct disadvantage that the sun must be available. Hence, pocket sundials could not provide time indoors or outdoors when the sun was not shining. Moreover, as clocks became common, more precise time determination was demanded of portable timepieces than could be provided by pocket sundials.
In any event, mechanical, wind-up pocket watches first came on the scene in about the 1700's, and are still in somewhat common usage, and fancy pocket watches on the ends of heavy gold chains became a symbol of status and importance. Pocket watches were, however, found to be relatively inconvenient to use-especially as the pace of life quickened and people increasingly began to live their lives by the clock rather than by sunrise and sunset.
Wristwatches came into popular use early in the 20th century and by the end of World War II most adults in industrialized counties had at least one wristwatch. By that time, wristwatches manufactured by such U.S. companies as Benrus, Bulova, Elgin, Hamilton, Longines and Whitanaur were well known. Wristwatches were then most commonly of the mechanical windup type, inexpensive versions of which later become popularized by the Timex watch company's jingle: "It takes a licking and keeps on ticking." More expensive, self-winding or "automatic" mechanical watches also became generally available after WW II.
As a commercial use of space-age technology and its microminiaturization technology, electric or electronic (i.e., battery-powered) analog watches became available to a limited extent in the United States in about the late 1960's. A notable example of an early electronic wristwatch is Bulova's high-end "ACCUTRON" battery-powered watch which used a transistorized circuit to drive a miniature tuning fork as a timing standard, and which used a miniature motor for operating the analog time display which consisted of hour, minute and second hands.
In the early 1970's, battery-powered wristwatches with digital time displays and quartz timing devices were introduced--initially principally as a "hi-tech" novelty and subsequently (and still currently) as an inexpensive alternative to mechanical watches. Digital watches employing power-hungry and often difficult to read red LED (light emitting diode) time displays, which had to be activated to read the time, were first on the market, but were soon displaced by constant-display LCD (liquid crystal displays) wristwatches. However, digital quartz wristwatches soon lost most of their popularity-except for low-end wristwatches--because LCD displays are difficult to read, especially in bright sunlight which overpowers the LCD display, and must be back lit to be read in low light or in the dark.
By the late 1980's, analog quartz wristwatches had become more or less the standard for most individuals; although, some multi-function watches have continued to use LCD displays, for example, for a second time zone display or for stop-watch purposes. Most analog electric watches are now manufactured by (or for) Japanese companies by such companies as Seiko, Casio and Citizen which essentially dominate the wristwatch market.
Nevertheless, there has remained through evolving wristwatch history what might be termed an important niche market for precision mechanical wristwatches, now primarily of the self-winding (i.e., automatic) type, as exemplified by such well-known Swiss-made watches as ROLEX and OMEGA. Many of such watches are very expensive for the average person and are often made with solid gold cases, with some models using gem stones, such as diamonds, in lieu of hour numbers on the watch face and/or as watch case decorations. To many, such wristwatches as ROLEX have become a symbol of status and are often worn more for display than for timekeeping purposes.
It is to this high-end, precision mechanical wristwatch market that the present modular wristwatch assembly invention is principally (but not necessarily) directed, since it enables the cost-efficient production of limited quantities of expensive wristwatches.
The present invention also enables, as described below, watchmakers to provide various models of different appearance without incurring the high tooling costs heretofore associated with introducing new watch models. It also enables the rapid introduction of new models and even permits customers to customize their own wristwatch.